Here's an old film from during the war on growing a Victory Garden. It's interesting if you're into this sort of thing. Just ignore the part about spraying carcinogens on the plants to protect them from bugs and diseases.

I know this isn't your main point but here are a couple quick thoughts.

Dual Survival is pretty cool. I always wonder about the impact of the camera crew on those kinds of shows though. I mean when a few people are following you around with cameras and it states in the opening text that they won't let anything too bad happen, they probably don't feel like they're in too much danger. You somewhat wonder if they're ever going to bed hungry, or are being supplied toilet paper, and stuff like that.

It's definitely interesting. I'm not trying to be too negative. Just thinking about the mechanics of it. I definitely haven't done some of the stuff they've done (Tierra del Fuego and whatnot comes to mind). But I feel like there have been times when I had to rough it harder than they did at least on the show (no one bailing me out, freezing my ass off, hungry, etc).

Also, it must be pretty disappointing when the boats that "rescue" them discover a camera crew and a huge budget. I think that's kind of funny. But I guess they probably smooth it over because they're doing something educational etc.

Anyway good show for sure. This is more just meta analysis of "reality" type shows. I think about the same kinds of stuff when those "picking" shows are on for old antiques and pawning and bartering and stuff. Mostly real but an element of fiction etc.

This video discusses Brian, a polymath living in northwest Oregon. Brian has constructed 5 tiny homes on his completely off-grid property with all kinds of unique technologies that he created or adapted to his structures. He also owns and operates the organic farm on his property as well as a business building traditional kayaks.

YouTube Description

Brian is an "obsessive craftsman" who believes he can build most anything in his life. On his Oregon farm he has built, or renovated, 5 tiny structures. After being told by the county that he couldn't erect a yurt, he built a code-approved main house "to give us a place to legally stay".

Once the main house was built, he created several smaller structures (less than 200 square feet) on the property from 90% local materials.

The farm is completely off the grid and Schulz points out that this doesn't mean they rely on propane or lots of photovoltaics. Nearly all their tools for living have been adapted to fit the off-grid lifestyle. For his prototype solar-powered bathhouse Schulz used recycled solar hot water panels, salvaged hot water tanks (from the dump), a solar thermal window and a recycled soaking tub. Indoors, Schulz has adapted a chest freezer to create a low-consuming refrigerator (using a tenth of the electricity of a regular fridge) and a 1940s wood-fired cookstove to cook, heat and as a heat-exchanger, harvesting waste heat and thermo-syphoning water to heat up the home's hot water.

They do have a limited number of photovoltaic panels which produce about 1000 watts of electricity when the sun is shining (for the entire farm), as well as a micro hydro generator in the creek and solar thermal panels.

Schulz models much of what he builds on the Japanese aesthetic and tries to make everything in his life not just functional, but beautiful (e.g. his bathhouse was designed not just as a shower, but as a way to de-stress).

Schulz is an avid kayaker and for his day job, he builds skin-on-frame kayaks (as well as teach others to build their own).